Motion-picture machine.



A. C. ROEBUCK.

MOTION PICTURE MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. II. I916. 1,277,482. Patented Sept. 3,1918.

SHEETS-SHEET I.

" H.553? 600g]? G Hoe buck.

M M W e.

A. C. ROEBUCK.

MOTION PICTURE MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1|..l9l6.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- czzv ha. b k.

. UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

ALVAH C. BOEBUCK, OF PARK RIDGE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB TO THE ENTERPRISE OPTICAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORA- 'IION OF ILLINOIS.

Horror-morons MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 3, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALvAH C. RonBUoK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Park Ridge, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Motion-Picture Machines, of which the following is a speclfication.

This invention relates more particularly to the driving mechanism for such a machine, and one of the princlpal ob ectsis to prevent looseness or rattling of the driving parts which would have a tendency to cause unsteadiness of' the picture pro ected from the film to the screen, and noise from the rattling of the joint which is annoying to the operator and interferes with the synchronism of pictures and music; Other.

objects of the invention are to provide a driving connection which will perl'nlt the framing device to be rec1procated and to simplify the construction and contrlbute to the accuracy and economy in manufacture. Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the features of novelty in the construction, combination and arrangement of the several parts.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of a motion picture. machine omittin the closure plate and a portion of the housing; Flg. 2 1s a sectional view showing the shaft coupling and some of the operating parts; 3 1s a view of the intermittent gearing; ig. 4 1s a sideelevation of a portion of a machine of thisl class with parts of the main housing broken away; Fig.5 is a side elevation of the driving coupling; Fig. 6 is a perspective of the cross-connecting member; Fig. 7 is a view showing the cross-connecting member applied to one of the coupling parts, and Fig. 8 is a top view of the coupling shown in the position shown by Fig, 5.

In operating a motion picture machine it frequently becomes necessary to shift the film so that it will accurately register with the light aperture of the machine and in doing this it'is necessary to ary the POSI- tion of one of the driving elements with respect to the other. If a proper connection is not made between these parts they not' only will be loose but also by their unsteadiness will produce noise and rattling, which in turn causes unsteadiness of the picture when projected on the screen. It is therefore necessary that a particular form of coupling be provided which will eliminate these objections by "producing a connection which will not rattle or tend to become loose either when first assembled or through slight wearing of the parts, even though the connected parts are not exactly spaced with respect to each other.

In the present invention the driving mechanism comprises a shaft 1 to which an operating handle 2 is attached at one end with a train of gears connected to the shaft and comprising a gear 3 for rotating a shutter 4 in front of the framing aperture 5, and a gear 6 mounted on a driving shaft 7.

A housing 8 is rovided for the operating parts and in the ousing is an upright rod 9 upon which a framing device -10 is slid-- able. A lever 11 is connected to the framing device outside of the housing for moving it up and down on the rod 9. The framing device carries a shaft 12 which operates a film driving sprocket 13 through the intermittent gearing members 14 and 15. It will be seen, therefore, that since the driving sprocket 13 draws the film past the framing aperture 5 any jerky, unsteady movement or rattling of the framing device would cause a corresponding unsteadiness of the film and of the picture projected therefrom.

A coupling is therefore provided joining the shafts 7 and 12, which is shown more clearly in Figs. 5 to 8. Attached to one of the shafts 12 is a member 16 having a flat outer face 17 and a transverse round slot 18 below the face thereof. connected by a neck 19 of reduced width with the face 17 of the member. Into this round slot an extension 12 of'the shaft 12 projects. Theopposite coupling member 20 has a similar round slot 18 connected with its face by reduced portion 19 and the face of the two members 16 and 20 are usually spaced a slight distance apart but parallel with each other and at right angles to the axes of their shafts 7 and 121- Uniting the two members-16 and 20 is a connector 21 having a. round portion 22 and ort'ion 23 a rectangular, preferably square,;. at right angles to each other join integral neck 24. The under sid I square portion 23 is formed with' cutaway portions extending from the neck leaving the outer surfaces 26 pi jccting therefrom and squared off to define a substantially perfeet plane. The outer faces of the round portion 22 of this cross connector. 21 is formed with a flattened portion or keyway 27 which terminates at a distance from the ends of the member.

In connecting the members 16 and 20 the round portion of the cross member 21 is inserted endwise into one of the transverse slots 18, say of the member 16, and the shaft 12 is thereafter connected to this member 16 so that its projection 12 will extend into the slot 27 of the rounded portion 22. This will limit the movement of this portion of the cross member21 preventing it from becoming actually disengaged from the member 16. In this position the surfaces 26 of the squared portion of the cross member bear against the outer face 17 of this connection member 16. Because of this bearing the cross member 21 is held closely against the face 17 without any rattling or unsteadiness, at the same time permitting a slight movement of the cross member 21, the slot 27 limiting the transverse movement of the member so that the surfaces 26 will not slide off of the face 17 of the member 16. With this construction it is only necessary that the other transverse portion 23 of the cross member 21 will fit closely in the transverse neck 19 of the other coupling member 20. The enlarged circular portion 18 allows a slight inward and outward movement of the squared portion 23 with respect to this member 20, or a rocking movement, where the shafts are not in exact alinement.

With this construction the shafts 7 and 12 may be moved relatively with respect to each other; there will be no chattering or unsteadiness of movement of the parts; the parts can be easily and economically manufactured; and it is easy to produce an accurate fit because a round part is working in a round hole and the square part is slidable in a slot which is easily machined. It is obvious, therefore, that there will be no chatter ing or unsteadiness and at the same time an efiicient drive is obtained which can be easily assembled and disconnected for the purpose of testing and making adjustments.

I claim:

1. In a motion picture machine, a film sprocket, a movable frame for the sprocket, a casing having a light aperture for the film, and a nonchattering driving connection for the sprocket comprising a shaft'fixed in the casing, a shaft fixed in the frame, a member secured to one of the shafts having a slot in its face, and a transversely slidable connector confined against lateral movement in said slot and normally held bearing against the face of said member to prevent the connector from vibrating.

2. In a motion picture machine, a film sprocket, a movable frame for the sprocket, a casing having a light aperture for the film, and a non-chattering driving connection for the sprocket comprising a pair of driving members one mounted in the casing and one in the frame, and a connector slidable in the faces of both members and confined against lateral movement in the slot and normally bearing against the face of one of them.

3. In a motion picture machine, a film sprocket, a movable frame for the sprocket, a casing having a light aperture for the film, and a non-chattering driving connection for the sprocket comprising a pair of spaced members one rotatable in the casing and one rotatable in the frame, both having transverse slots therein, and a connector member slidably seated in the slot of one member and confined thereby and slidable in the slot of the other member and adjustable inwardly and outwardly in the slot of the said other member, the connector member being held against the face of the member in which it is seated by the slot thereof.

4. In a motion picture machine, a film feeding sprocket, an adjustable framing device therefor, means for driving the sprocket comprising a fixed rotatable member, a. corresponding rotatable member carried by the frame, one of said members having a recessed transverse slot spaced from the face thereof by a neck of less width than the slot, and a non-chattering slidable cross connecting member seated in said slot and normally held thereby bearingagainst the face of the member and having a slidable connection with the other cooperating member.

5. In a motion picturemachine, the combination with a film feeding sprocket, of a movable framing device for carrying the sprocket, means for driving the sprocket comprising a fixed rotatable member, a cooperating rotatable member carried by the said frame, said members having recessed undercut transverse slots, and a non chattering connecting member having a portion seated, confined against lateral play, and slidable in the transverse slot of one of the members and having another ortion at an angle thereto bearing against t e face of the member in which the other portion is slid-' able and also slidable in the slot of the other member.

6. In a motion picture machine, a movable framing device, film driving means carried thereby comprising a rotatable member, a relatively fixed rotatable member, both said rotatable members having recessed trans verse slots, a slidable non-chattering connecting member having a portion seated in one of the slots and prevented from radial movement therein and another portion at an angle to the first mentioned portion slidable and movable in and out of the slot of the other member with the under side thereof normally bearing against the/face .of the first mentioned rotatable member.

7. In a motion picture machine, the combination with a movable film framing device, of a rotatable film driving member carried thereby having a flat outer face and a transverse slot connected by a neck of less width with the said face, a relatively fixed driving member having a transverse slot normally arranged at an angle to the slot of the first-named member, and a non-chattering connecting device for the said members havingtwo portions one at an angle to the other and each slidable in the said slots one portion being Seated and confined in the slot of the first mentioned member and havin the rear side of the other portion normally eld bearing against the face of the member in which the first mentioned portion is slidable.

8. A driving connection comprising two rotatable members spaced apart and one movable parallel to but out of a direct line of the other member, transverse slots in the adjacent. faces of said members, and a connector having two portions one at an angle to the other'and slidable in the slots of the two said members, one of the portions of the said connector having a keyway cut in its outer surface, and means secured to one of the said rotatable members having a projection to engage the keyway of the said connector to limit the transverse movement of the connector in one of the members.

9. The combination with a pair of rotatable members having substantially parallel axes and one movable into and out of direct line with the other, said members having adjacent faces each provided with a transverse slot spaced from the face thereof by a narrower neck, and a connector member having two portions one at an angle to the other, one portion being inserted from the side and slidable in the said slot, and the other por tion being insertible from the face and slidable in the slot of the other member, the last named portion also bearing against the face of the oppositemember to prevent theconnector from chattering.

10., The combination with a pair of rotatable shafts arranged end to end and movable out of direct'line with each other, a member secured to each shaft having a face arranged opposite and spaced from the face of the other member, said members each having a transverse slot in its face, and a connector having twoportions one at an angle to the other' and both slidable in the said slots, one of the said portions having a keyway in its outer face and the shaft corresponding to this portion having a projection to engage in the keyway to limit the movement of the connector in the slot.

11. In a motion picture machine, the combination with a fi m a movable frame carrying the sprocket, .of a non-chattering driving connection for the sprocket comprising a rotatable, shaft carried by the frame, a relatively fixed rotatable shaft at the end of the first named shaft,

a pair of members mounted on the shaft having faces spaced apart and with a slot in each face spaced from the face by a narrower neck, a connector member having two por-' tions one at an angle to the other, one or tion being seated and confined in'the slo of driving sprocket and.

one member and slidable only transversely thereof, and the other portion being slidable in the slot of the other member and movable into and out thereof, the under face of the last named portion having extremities which are normally held by the confined portion against the face of the first mentioned member and are slidable thereon, and

means for limiting the extent of sliding movement of the said extremities on the said face. u

12. In a motion picture machine, a rotatable film feeding sprocket, a movable frame for carrying the sprocket, means for driving the sprocket comprising a shaft fixed in the machme and a shaft carried by the frame, a pair' of members carried by the shafts hav ing adjacent faces spaced apart, and w1th a circular transverse slot connected wlth the face of each member by-a narrower neck, and a non-chattering connector member havingtwo portions one at right angles to the other, one of said portions being round and adapted to be seated in p of the members by inserting it from the end thereof, and the other portion of said member being rectangular. and having extremities which bear against the face of the memthe slot of one ber in which the round portion is seated,

slidable two subscribin witnesses, on this first day of August A. 1916.

I 7 ALVAH C. ROEBUCK.

Witnesses:

L. E. Hous'nrromnn, J. B.-Swarrrsmm. 

